ABC World News Tonight with David Muir gained viewers from the previous week to maintain its No. 1 ranking in the evening news ratings race.
Per live plus same day data from Nielsen, World News Tonight averaged more than 8.29 million total viewers and 1. million A25-54 viewers for the Tuesday through Thursday block of the week of Nov. 6. That’s the newscast’s largest average total audience since March and its largest A25-54 audience since ___. World News Tonight’s 8.29 million viewer average is No. 1 across all of broadcast and cable TV, and +9% from the previous week (which was rated on four days, not three), while the newscast’s 1.15 million A25-54 average is also +9% from the week prior. When compared with the year-ago week, which featured coverage of the 2022 midterm elections, World News Tonight is -2% in total viewers and a whopping -21% in A25-54 viewers, as ABC’s evening newscast continues its troubling trend of losing viewers under 55 on an annual basis.
Additionally, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, World News Tonight scored its most-watched telecast (8.47 million) since March 28 of this year.
The Monday, Nov. 6 broadcast of World News Tonight was not Nielsen-rated/excluded because Monday Night Football preempted the evening newscast on ABC stations in several markets west of the Mississippi. The Monday retitling of ABC World News Tonight has been a consistent practice since the start of the Monday Night Football season. ABC News also decided to retitle the Friday, Nov. 11 telecast due to the Veterans Day federal holiday.
NBC Nightly News drew an average of 1.08 million A25-54 viewers this past week, which is +6% from what the newscast averaged the week earlier but -12% from the year-ago week. In average total viewers, NBC Nightly News was the third-most-watched show across all of broadcast and cable TV (excluding sports) for the week, averaging 6.89 million viewers. That represents +2% gain from the previous week, and a +1% from the year-ago week for Nightly News — the only evening newscast to gain total viewers from both the previous week and the year-ago week.
According to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 718,000 total views and 562,000 viewers this past week.
Additionally, Nightly News beat World News Tonight on at least one day of the week for the fifth consecutive week (Nightly News averaged +5,000 more A25-54 viewers than WNT on Tuesday, Nov. 7). The last time we saw this trend was December 2019.
NBC Nightly News’ Nielsen ratings for the week of Nov. 6 are based on a four-day average (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri). NBC News retitled the Wednesday edition of Nightly due to the third GOP debate, which aired on the network in primetime.
Changing channels, The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged more than 4.95 million total and 678,000 Adults 25-54 viewer average for the week of Nov. 6. That’s +1% and -9%, respectively, from the week before. CBS Evening News saw a -1% decline in total viewers from the year-ago week (%), but a -21% decline in A25-54 viewers also from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Nov. 6, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,291,000 | 6,889,000 | 4,953,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,154,000 | 1,079,000 | 678,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 11/6/23), Previous Week (w/o 10/30/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/31/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 11/12/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 11/6/22). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.